Michael Phelps praises 'incredible' Kristof Milak
SWIMMING legend Michael Phelps has praised the "incredible" Kristof Milak after the Hungarian broke his 10-year-old 200m butterfly world record.
Milak, 19, clocked one minute 50.73 seconds to win gold at the World Championships in South Korea on Wednesday, 0.78secs faster than the American - the most decorated Olympian - swam in Rome in 2009.
"It happened because there was a kid who wanted to do it, who dreamed of doing it, who figured out what it would take to do it," said Phelps.
The 34-year-old told New York Times: "I couldn't be happier to see how he did it.
"That kid's last 100 was incredible.
He put together a great 200 fly from start to finish. "(He) worked on his technique until it was beautiful, and put in the really, really hard work. My hat's off to him."
Phelps won 28 Olympic medals, including 23 golds, and is the most decorated Olympian of all time
On Thursday, Britain's Duncan Scott finished fifth in the 200m individual medley, despite knocking more than half a second off his semi-final time.
Daiya Seto of Japan won gold in 1:56.14, while Switzerland's Jeremy Desplanches took silver in 1:56.56 - breaking his country's record for the eighth time.
American Chase Kalisz finished third, while 22-year- old Scott - who refused to share a podium with Chinese gold medallist Sun Yang after his bronze in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday - touched the wall 0.77secs behind the winner.
Georgia Davies was fourth in the women's 50m backstroke in Gwangju, finishing 0.14secs behind Russia's Daria Vaskina, who took the bronze.
Fellow Britons Alys Margaret Thomas and Laura Stephens finished fifth and eighth respectively in the 200m butterfly, which was won by Hungarian Bolarka Kapas.